Nebraska
Nebraska Has a Path to the College Football Playoff
If conventional wisdom about the College Football Playoff rings true, Nebraska has a path to being one of the 12 teams selected.
Not a guaranteed path, but a path.
Not an easy path, but a path.
The Huskers’ playoff hopes only exist with a victory Saturday night against visiting USC. If they don’t beat the Trojans, it’s time to check out what bowl game might be possible.
Conventional wisdom suggests the Big Ten and SEC each will have four teams in the CFP. The Big Ten had four teams in last year’s 12-team tournament. The SEC had three teams.
But there’s no guarantee of four B1G or SEC teams, that’s just the talk.
Ohio State and Indiana are locks for the CFP and Oregon might be, too. If a fourth team is in play, intrigue takes over with many possibilities and probably one slot.
Nebraska, obviously, has to win out. Going 3-1 over the final four games won’t cut it. The Huskers also need help, maybe lots of help. There are four one-loss teams ahead of the Huskers (3-2, 6-2) in the Big Ten standings. Nebraska is one of five two-loss teams, but realistically only the Huskers and Washington still are alive.
So, there is a glimmer of hope for Nebraska.
Each one-loss team and each two-loss team has season-defining games remaining that will change the standings, and could change the perceptions and minds of the CFP Selection Committee. Some teams have two such difficult games remaining.
In a wild season where Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech control their fate and could get into the CFP, and preseason No. 1 Penn State (3-4) and preseason top 5 Clemson (3-4) might not even become bowl eligible, no one knows what’s going to happen on the field.
* Oregon (4-1 B1G, 7-1 overall): Unless they collapse down the stretch, the Ducks are in.
* Michigan (4-1, 6-2): This might be the most problematic team for Nebraska, which lost to the Wolverines in September. Michigan closes the season at home against undefeated, No. 1 Ohio State. OK, that feels like a Wolverines loss, but they have defeated the Buckeyes the last four years. But if Michigan beats Ohio State again, presuming they beat Purdue and Maryland along the way, the Wolverines almost certainly will get a playoff spot.
* USC (3-1, 5-2): Nebraska can leap over the Trojans on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium. Period.
* Iowa (4-1, 6-2): The Huskers play host to the Hawkeyes on Nov. 28. First, Iowa plays host to Oregon on Saturday, and is at USC on Nov. 15. Not easy.
* Washington (3-2, 6-2): The Huskies play wildly unpredictable UCLA on the road on Nov. 22, then close the season at home vs. Oregon on Nov. 29. Washington was in the national title game only two years ago.
* Minnesota (3-2, 5-3): Nebraska’s loss at Minnesota was damaging and might wind up being disqualifying. But the Golden Gophers have three losses overall, and they play at Oregon on Nov. 14.
* UCLA (3-2, 3-5): The Bruins have five overall losses, so they’re done. The CFP Selection Committee might have to stomach a three-loss team this year, but that’s the maximum number of losses that will get in — if that.
* Northwestern (3-2, 5-3): Nebraska’s 28-21 victory on Saturday ended the Wildcats’ long-shot hopes for a CFP berth.
Nebraska’s schedule actually helps, with USC and Iowa coming to Memorial Stadium. Say the Huskers win out and finish 10-2 — somewhat of a tall task many would say. Would a 10-2 Huskers team get in ahead of a 9-3 Michigan team that lost at home to No. 1 Ohio State but beat Nebraska head-to-head? It’s not an impossible scenario.
Nebraska hasn’t helped itself with uneven performances. Yes, wins are wins and the Huskers should feel good about having six of them. And their win over Cincinnati looks better and better. But teams now are trying to persuade the CFP Selection Committee that they are worthy.
Right now, Nebraska doesn’t have that one significant win. The kind of win that makes the committee sit up and take notice and take notes. With so many teams crunched together, who knows what the difference is between getting in and not getting in.
And Nebraska’s signature win could be out there with USC, UCLA, Penn State and Iowa on its schedule. A bunch of one-score wins certainly helps the ledger but how much influence does a 28-21 win over Northwestern have on the committee?
But a Nebraska victory over USC, on NBC Saturday night, might have outsized influence with the committee. Beat the Trojans on national television in prime time and people will notice.
The first CFP poll will be released on Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. CT. Plenty of information will be dissected from the first poll. How significant that poll is for Nebraska will depend on one factor: Did the Huskers defeat USC on Nov. 1?
Right now, for Nebraska, nothing else matters.
Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.
The future of data centers in Nebraska took center stage at a North Omaha town hall Thursday evening.
The event was hosted by State Sens. Terrell McKinney and Ashlei Spivey, who alongside Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh sponsored a bill in the Nebraska Legislature that looked to help regulate data centers.
Parts of their bill were adopted and passed in LB1010, which requires reports on annual power usage, water usage and ownership.
“Having this passed in a package showed a lot of bipartisan work,” Spivey told a crowd of attendees at Nelson Mandela Elementary School.
The proposed regulations were shaped in part by Bold Nebraska, an advocacy group focused on eminent domain and clean energy. Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party and founder of Bold Nebraska, said before the bill passed there were “zero laws on the books” to address a boom in data centers.
“If one is coming into the community, we wanted to make sure that there were some basic transparency things in place,” Kleeb said.
Political discussions around data centers heated up in recent months following reporting by the Flatwater Free Press that showed Google is considering a data center in Nebraska that could require more than three times the amount of power the entire city of Lincoln uses at peak demand in the summer.
The Nebraska Legislature recently passed another bill, LB1261, that allows private developers to build and own power plants to serve a large industrial customer, including data centers. That bill was proposed by the governor’s office and celebrated by Gov. Jim Pillen.
“Our state is once again taking a bold and strategic step – one that will create an environment that attracts business and multibillion dollar investment, while legally preserving Nebraska’s unique and consumer-friendly public power model,” Pillen said at the time.
At Thursday’s town hall, McKinney called LB1261 “the bogeyman bill.”
“It’s a bill that the governor pushed through the legislature to allow for data centers to create their own power,” McKinney said. “It’s a bill that I stood on the floor and said this is going to harm our communities.”
LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Hundreds of people are without power in southeast Nebraska after a severe storm passed through Thursday morning.
The Lincoln Electric System outage map showed 115 customers without power across the city at 11:36 a.m.
Norris Public Power District’s outage map also shows 45 customers affected by the storm. As of 11:36 a.m., there were nine active outages.
According to the Nebraska Public Power District outage map, 657 customers were affected by the storm. Most of the affected customers were near Plattsmouth in southeast Nebraska. As of 11:37 a.m., 27 customers remain without power.
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Mandatory evacuations have been ordered near Crawford, including Fort Robinson State Park, as the South Fork Fire continues to spread in western Nebraska.
According to the City of Crawford, evacuations are currently underway for an area north of Crawford that includes the area south of Dodd Road, west of Dodd Road, and FF Street.
Fort Robinson has also been evacuated.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission said Fort Robinson State Park and Peterson Wildlife Management Area have been temporarily closed due to the fire.
The fire has burned approximately 9,000 acres and is currently 0% contained, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
Nebraska Game and Parks said the park and the WMA will remain closed until further notice to support firefighting operations and protect public safety.
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